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DeKalb CEO’s campaign fund nearly wipes out 2008 debt

Burrell Ellis has just about paid off his $700,000-plus campaign for DeKalb County CEO. Now, it’s time to start thinking about 2012.

Ellis’s campaign fund spent a total of $735,000 over two years, according to its latest financial disclosure report. That’s less than the $860,000 that his predecessor, Vernon Jones, spent in 2004 to win re-election.

Ellis won a Democratic primary runoff in August 2008 and had no Republican opposition in November.

Since the runoff, Ellis has collected $132,514 from campaign donors, allowing him to retire most of his campaign debt. The CEO’s campaign committee has $2,025 in the bank right now and owes $6,000 for “robocall” services to get the vote out last year.

Notable donations since Ellis won the CEO’s suit last August include:

$8,000 from partners in Chitwood Harley Harmes LLP, a class-action law firm with offices in New York and Atlanta

$2,350 from attorneys at McKenna Long Aldridge, including former Congressman Buddy Darden; Atlanta mayoral candidate Jesse Spikes; Eric Tanenblatt, former chief of staff to Gov. Sonny Perdue; and Keith Mason, former chief of staff for Gov. Zell Miller and son of developer Wayne Mason

$2,300 from Kelly Jordan, chairman of the Arabia Mountain Heritage Area Alliance

$1,000 from developer and former DeKalb Commissioner Robert E. Lanier

$1,500 from the attorney for the DeKalb Development Authority, and $500 from its vice chairman

$1,000 from zoning attorney Kathryn Zickert

$750 from a firm run by Michael Hightower, who served a federal prison term for accepting bribes as a Fulton County commissioner

$550 from Decatur Mayor Bill Floyd

$500 from Emory University general counsel and former U.S. Attorney Kent Alexander